There are roughly 5,500 Brits locked up around the world, many of them on drugs charges.

ITV’s new eye-opening documentary Brits Behind Bars delved into the deep, dark stories of a handful of UK citizens who broke foreign laws and are now facing terrifying consequences – even death.

One unlucky Brit, not quite behind bars yet facing the threat of imprisonment, was  Dan Macdonald, who was arrested after being found carrying 10kg of cannabis resin at an airport in Prague, Czech Republic.

The Essex man claimed his fiancée had handed him the drug-lined suitcase at the last minute as they were preparing to jet back home from their holiday, though he had no knowledge of its content.

Having been escorted off the flight to the police station, he was relieved to have been sat in front of a British detective who informed him the charges had been dropped and handed him a letter confirming the news.

It all sounded a bit fishy, nevertheless Dan was allowed back on British soil.

Following his lucky escape, he soon realised the Czech authorities had a different idea in mind and were fighting to have him extradited to stand trial for drug smuggling, which carried a 12-year sentence.

As luck would have it, Dan happened to have lost the letter given to him by the British detective, supposedly explaining he was off the hook. What’s worse is that he couldn’t even remember her name.

And no one could quite believe it…

Intent on remembering the mysterious detective’s name (and avoiding a decade banged up abroad) Dan even attended hypnotherapy sessions… to no avail.

Soon he was back in court in the UK and was given the heart-wrenching news that he would indeed by facing extradition to the Czech Republic.

He was given two weeks to pack his things up and say his goodbyes, before meeting police at Heathrow Airport.

Suddenly, as if the plot couldn’t thicken any more, the story took a surprising twist… Dan’s mother found the all-important letter, confirming the case against him had in fact been dropped and cynical Tweeters were all forced to eat their hasty words…